


Moving On

by babs



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 03:32:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18189227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babs/pseuds/babs
Summary: Daniel struggles to deal with the aftermath of the events of Hathor.





	Moving On

**Author's Note:**

> This previously appeared in a zine (and I'd forgotten about it).

"Beloved. My Beloved. So beautiful," Hathor breathed into Daniel's ear. Her fingers stroked his face and then moved lower, trailing across his chest. His body responded as she rubbed a nipple and he shivered as she molded her lips to his. She placed both hands on his waist—heat against chill. 

 

"You are mine, Beloved. All mine," she whispered and kissed him again. "Mine." She gripped him tighter, her nails digging into more sensitive flesh. 

 

No." Daniel pushed away but she kissed him again and again and he couldn't seem to move.He didn't want this. As if in a dream, he could feel his body respond. It wasn't him, he told himself. This wasn't real. It wasn't happening. He closed his eyes and a stinging slap to his face made him open them again. 

 

"Look at me, Beloved. You will look upon your queen." 

 

No, no, no. It became a mantra as Hathor stroked him. 

 

"Is this not most pleasurable? You will be my consort. I will be your queen."

 

No! Daniel wanted to speak, but he was paralyzed. He couldn't move, couldn't stop her hands, her mouth, her body. Not happening, not happening, not happen...

* * * *

 

Daniel sat up in bed with a gasp. Breathe, he reminded himself. Breathe. It's over, it's past, done. Time to move on. Time to forget. 

 

He rubbed at his face and squinted at the clock. Two a.m. Wow. He'd managed to sleep a whole two hours—an accomplishment in itself. He shivered as he got out of bed. It seemed he never felt warm now. Not since... 

 

Main objective: bathroom and then a hot shower. 

He pulled off his now sweat-stained t-shirt and stepped out of his sweat pants. And wished he could take a shower in them. He forced himself to look down at his body. The bruises left in the aftermath of his encounter with Hathor had long since faded, but he could still imagine her fingers against his pale skin, and even when he tried to superimpose Sha're's fingers over Hathor's he couldn't. Try as he might, he couldn't remember Sha're's voice, the smell of her, the press of her body against his in the dark. Hathor had taken that from him, and it twisted in his gut with shame. He should have been stronger, should have resisted.

 

Stepping into the shower, Daniel let the hot water cascade over him, the sound of the water echoing the refrain in his brain: should have, should have. Should have figured out what was going on. Should have known how to stop Hathor. Should have never gone to the Cartouche room with Jack and Sam on Abydos. Should have never have sent back the tissue box through the Gate. Should have never started thinking about the possibility of there being other destinations from the Stargate and should have never gone exploring after his first months on Abydos. Should have, should have, should have…over and over again in his head, like a mantra.

 

Daniel tilted his head back and opened his mouth, trying to let out the anger, the grief, but he couldn't. He grabbed the soap and began to wash his body, slowly, methodically, making sure each and every inch was scrubbed clean of Hathor's stink. "Out out, damned spot. All the perfumes of Arabia can’t sweeten this little hand." Somehow the words of Shakespeare seemed appropriate. 

* * * * 

 

 

"Doctor Jackson, do you have anything further to add?" 

Jack glanced sideways at Daniel who appeared to be engrossed in reviewing his notes. 

"Earth to Daniel," Jack said and waved a hand in front of Daniel's nose. "Come in, Daniel."

Daniel looked up, his glasses pushed down to the end of his nose. "Oh, yes. I mean, no. Nothing to add, General Hammond, sir."

General Hammond nodded. "Very well, SG-1. You have a go at 2000 hours."

Jack's team nodded and began gathering their notes and folders to leave.

"Daniel?" Jack asked when Daniel remained standing by his chair staring down at the table. In his admittedly brief experience in dealing with the man, he'd learned a quiet Daniel Jackson wasn't a good thing.

"Huh?" Daniel looked up and for a brief moment Jack thought he saw panic in the blue eyes.

"You okay?" You seemed a little...you know," Jack said, gesturing at his head with an index finger. He stuffed Daniel's papers in the manila folder when Daniel made no effort to do so.

"I'm fine." Daniel took the folder from Jack and gave a fleeting smile. "Just thinking about the mission. Preoccupied, you know?"

Jack nodded and let Daniel go, telling himself that if anything was really wrong, Fraiser was going to catch it in the pre-mission physical. He knew better than anyone how lost in his work Daniel could get. He checked his watch as Daniel left the briefing room. He'd give Daniel a couple of hours to brood over whatever thoughts he had whirling in that lightning quick brain, then go to his lab and bug him for a bit before the took the team for dinner.

* * * *

Sam pushed her spoon into her Jello and glanced sideways at Daniel. Dinner had been   
awkward at best. Colonel O'Neill had rounded up SG1 and insisted they eat together in the commissary. Daniel was tense beside her, and when Sam's knee had accidentally bumped against his, she though he would knock over his chair in his hasted to get away from her.

 

She turned her attention back to her bowl. She still saw Daniel's face in her dreams, the way he'd looked when they'd found him in the VIP room: so lost, so dazed. Her stomach twisted. Daniel, their Daniel, had been raped by Hathor. She didn't know if that was in the report, if the word had been used or even mentioned. Perhaps it had been disguised as an euphemism—sexual assault. But rape was what it was. And Sam hated herself for how she'd handled the situation. 

 

Colonel O'Neill made an inane comment, and she took the opportunity to look at Daniel while he was distracted by explaining it to Teal'c. He looked tired and worn, far more than he should. Was she the only one who noticed it? The few times she'd had to talk to Daniel alone since Hathor's oh-so-lovely visit had been filled with technicalities as he helped her figure out the purpose of an artifact brought back from another planet. Her expressions of concern had been rebuffed, and now Sam wanted to kick herself as three kinds of fool. She had a suspicion, now confirmed, that Doctor Daniel Jackson could be a master con man when it came to concealing his inner self. Now the only question was how did she get him to open up to someone, anyone? 

* * * *

"Water?" Jack asked off to his left. 

"I'm fine," Daniel said without looking up from the stone he was painstakingly brushing. Truth be told, he'd feel a lot more comfortable if Jack, Sam, and Teal'c would stop watching him so closely. At least Sam and Teal'c had left to do some scouting. He mentally reviewed his work of the past few hours. Surely he hadn't given any of them reason to doubt his abilities. Daniel frowned. They all knew of course. They all knew what Hathor had done. No scratch that, what *he* had done. He continued his slow methodical brushing, trying to ignore the way his hand shook every now and again. It would pass, he told himself. He'd get some sleep tonight and everything would be fine. Yeah, right… 

 

"You gonna be done soon?" Jack crouched down by him, crowding him a little.

Daniel gripped his brush tighter, forced his voice to remain calm and pleasant. "Another hour, maybe two." 

"What's it mean?" Jack's hand came into view as he gestured at the glyphs.

 

"Kings walked here with the gods," Daniel murmured and suppressed a small shiver. "The golden-eyed gods," he continued when Jack remained silent. He could feel her hands sliding up his thigh, super-heated skin on his goose-bumped flesh, smell the scent of her, spice and something else, nothing like Sha're. It had hurt, caused him pain. He tried to focus on the glyphs in front of him, but they wavered and shimmered in the sunlight, her face superimposed over them. He felt the familiar clench in his stomach and clamped his jaw shut. He would not lose control. He would not. Jack would be so unimpressed if he threw up right now. 

* * * * 

He imagined the feel of a slender neck under his fingers, the pulse strong and fast as she looked into his eyes. And then, as her eyes flashed gold, snapping the bones and watching as she died for what she had done to Daniel Jackson. 

"Teal'c."

He looked from the MRE he was stirring to Daniel Jackson, who was frowning at him over the campfire.

"You okay?"

 

"I am," Teal'c answered and put a spoonful of beef stew in his mouth. It tasted like ash. He had failed in his duty, the unspoken vow he'd made to protect the man. He was responsible for the loss of everything his friend held dear, and yet, for some unfathomable reason, Daniel Jackson had forgiven him his transgression. He did not, could not, understand a human like him. O'Neill was a fellow warrior; even Captain Carter shared that bond with them. But a scholar, a man of words and knowledge, such a man should not have suffered at the hands of Hathor.

O'Neill began speaking and Teal'c turned his attention back to his teammates. Daniel Jackson gave a faint smile and shook his head.

 

"I haven't translated all of the glyphs yet. If the Goa'uld were here, it was a long time ago judging from the age of the stone." He ducked his head and Teal'c watched as he drew a finger across one of the journals he wrote in so frequently. 

In the time since they'd met, Teal'c had learned Daniel Jackson was strong. He had been through much in his life and surprised Teal'c with his resiliency. But Hathor's incursion into the SGC seemed to have taken something from his young friend. He was more subdued, quiet, and shadows seemed to haunt his eyes.

 

This was their first off-world mission since Hathor. Perhaps it would serve to bring   
Daniel Jackson fully back to them.  
* * * *

 

"We'll head back at dawn," Jack said as SG1 sat around their small fire. He watched his team. Carter nodded her assent, only briefly looking up from her laptop. Teal'c inclined his head and then nodded before getting up to patrol the perimeter of their camp. 

 

"Daniel?" 

Looking across the fire at Jack, Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "There are no signs of recent human habitation. I don't think there's anyone here for a first contact team to..."

 

"Contact?" Jack finished for him. 

 

Daniel ducked his head but not before Jack noticed one of those small quirky smiles his friend sometimes gave. However, just as quickly as it had appeared it was gone. "Yeah." Daniel picked up his ever-present journal and then sat staring into the fire once again.

Jack stretched out his legs and pulled the bill of his cap lower, the better to observe Daniel. Something was off with his friend and Jack didn't like it one bit. Daniel was   
uncharacteristically quiet, none of his usual penchant for sharing what he'd learned witeam in great detail. The report Daniel had made to Jack and the others earlier had given them just the facts and that was it; no enthusiastic additions or speculations. Maybe Daniel was just tired. They'd been through a lot recently, and Sha're and Skaara were still missing somewhere out amid the Gate network. He surrepititiously rubbed his stomach and hoped none of his team noticed. The pain and horror of Hathor's plan for him still haunted his dreams, swirling with the memories of long-ago missions and the sound of a gunshot on a spring day.

He watched Daniel scribble something on the paper and forced his mind back to the present. For now, his team was safe and whole. He intended to keep them that way for a long time.

* * * *

Daniel concentrated on the crisp crunch of fallen leaves under his feet and the smell of the forest as SG-1 wound their way back to the Stargate. God, he wanted to sleep a night through. He wanted a night without dreams, without the feel of Hathor's hands on his skin. Sam hadn't said a word when he'd joined her on third watch, only handed him a cup of coffee and glanced away when their hands had met on the metal. He'd transferred the cup to his other hand and tried to get the feel of Hathor's touch off his skin by rubbing his fingers on his jacket.

 

He pulled his thoughts back to the present and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Soon they'd be back on base and he could escape into his lab and bury himself in work. Sooner or later the nightmares would pass, he reminded himself.

Sam stopped, and he nearly walked into her pack.

"Down, down," Jack whispered in what Daniel recognized as his command tone—the one that meant don't argue, don't question, just obey me.

Daniel followed Sam into a crouched position. Teal'c was at his back for a moment before moving past him to join Jack.

 

He watched as Jack and Teal'c crept forward. There were no sounds except a few birds twittering high in the trees above them and very familiar whoosh of a wormhole disengaging. Sam reached out to touch his shoulder, and he tensed before giving her a tight smile and a nod of understanding when she motioned them forward. 

 

Daniel found himself sandwiched between Jack and Sam behind a large boulder. From their vantage point, they could look down into the small bowl-like valley at the Stargate. Five Jaffa stood in a loose cluster around the Gate. 

 

"Scouting party," Teal'c whispered to Daniel's left. 

 

His heart thudded in his chest so loudly it seemed the Jaffa must hear it. Sam pressed closer against his right side, her breath misting his glasses.

 

Jack gave a short low hand motion. Don't move, Daniel interpreted. So he didn't. He pulled himself into as small a position as possible and forced himself to remember to breathe while he was acutely aware of Sam—of her female body tight against his and the Jaffa at the base of the hill. 

 

Time seemed to stretch out to eternity while the Jaffa quickly scouted the immediate area, but eventually they dialed the Gate again and disappeared into the wormhole, none the wiser that there were Tau'ri hidden on the hillside watching every move.

 

"I did not recognize their mark,' Teal'c commented as Daniel followed him down the hill, sweaty and sick to his stomach.

 

Daniel focused on breathing through his mouth. All he needed was to throw up in front of General Hammond when they stepped through the Stargate.

 

"...is that not correct, DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked and Daniel looked at him in surprise, realizing they were standing at the DHD.

 

"Um," he said and turned his attention to dialing them home. Focus, he ordered himself. He could feel the fine edge of his control slipping away, a rope beginning to fray and quickly unraveling into nothing more than shreds. He couldn't allow Hammond, or even Jack, any reason to take him off SG-1. Sha're needed him—she was his wife, keeper of his heart, and he had let her down yet again.

Someone tugged on his arm and then he was standing in the Gateroom without remembering even stepping into the wormhole.

Jack said something to Hammond in a low voice. Daniel couldn't make out the words, but Hammond looked at Daniel and gave a brief nod which he returned in confusion. Had Jack told the general of Daniel's screw-up? The knot in his stomach swelled.

 

"Infirmary," Hammond, or maybe it had been Jack, said.

 

Sam stood next to him in the elevator. Overlaying the smell of sweat and dirt, there was a hint of something else. Something feminine. Daniel closed his eyes and leaned against the wall of the cab. 

 

Please, please, please, he chanted in his mind. He wanted to lock himself in his lab, bury himself in books and words and the safety of solitude. But Hathor's fingers twined in his hair, left a burning trail of shame across his skin and there was no escape. There would never be an escape.

 

She called his name and he could hear Jack's voice over hers but it didn't matter. He struck out at her. He hadn't fought her before. He would now. This time Hathor would not steal parts of his soul. This time she would not be victorious. 

* * * *

Sam wasn't quite sure what had happened. Daniel stood next to her in the elevator, quiet and looking so weary she wondered when he'd last had a good night's sleep. She needed to talk to Janet, not as Captain Carter, but as Daniel's friend. His face paled, and she reached out, afraid he was going to keel over from exhaustion right in front of them.

 

"Daniel!" she called. "Colonel O'Neill, Daniel..." 

"What the...is he injured?" the colonel asked.

 

"I don't know," Sam replied. Daniel gripped her wrist tightly, surprising her. "Daniel?"

His other hand came out, the fist hitting a glancing blow to her jaw. Teal'c had Daniel in a firm grip before he was able to bring his arm up again. She shook her head trying to clear it.

 

"Carter?" 

 

"I'm fine, sir," she answered, not sparing a glance for her CO. All her attention was fixed on Daniel, who struggled in Teal'c's arms. His face was filled with an expression of anger and revulsion, and she realized he had no idea where he was. 

The elevator stopped but the doors didn't open. Colonel O'Neill must have hit the button to keep them closed. 

 

"Daniel?" she asked again, keeping her distance. 

"Don't touch me," he said, but she knew he wasn't seeing her. He was seeing Hathor.

"Daniel." The colonel stepped in front of her, bending down slightly because Daniel had stopped his struggling and slid down in Teal'c's loosened grasp. "She's gone. She's not here. Hathor is gone." 

 

"Stay away from..." 

 

"Jack? What?" 

 

The confusion showing in his eyes hurt her as much as the flashback and more than the glancing blow he'd struck her. She didn't like seeing her friends hurt and in the short time she'd known him Daniel Jackson had definitely become a friend.

 

The colonel gave a smile and nodded to Teal'c who released his hold on Daniel. "Little flashback there."

Daniel ducked his head and licked his lips. "Sorry," he mumbled to the floor of the elevator.

 

"It happens," Colonel O'Neill said and reached out and hit the button to open the doors. "It's okay."

 

Sam followed the colonel and Daniel as they headed towards the infirmary. She could feel her lip swelling but it didn't compare to the ache she felt in her heart.

 

Colonel O'Neill and Daniel were already seated on their usual beds when she entered the infirmary with Teal'c close at her heels. She didn't take her usual bed on the other side of Daniel. She settled for the one behind the colonel. Teal'c stationed himself at the foot of Daniel's bed. 

Daniel had thought she was Hathor. It was her touch that had triggered the flashback, her voice that had brought back the horrible memories. Sam could feel her throat tighten and looked up in alarm when the privacy curtain around her bed was pulled shut. 

"Sam?"

Janet smiled at her and she relaxed slightly, glad it was Janet who was doing the post-mission check and not another doctor. 

 

"I heard you had a close call with some Jaffa," Janet said in a matter of fact tone as she began her exam.

 

Sam shook her head. "We just watched them from some bushes. I don't think we were ever in danger." She managed a tight smile that never reached her eyes.

 

"Mmmhmm," Janet murmured and then brushed cool gloved fingers against Sam's lip. "And this came from the bushes?" 

"Uh." Sam didn't know what to say. She wanted to confide in Janet, but that was Daniel's right, not hers. "I walked into something." 

 

Janet stared at her a moment and then gave a short nod. "You'll probably want to put an ice pack on it. There might be bruising." She continued her exam while Sam sat silently and thought of Daniel.

"I'm pleased to report you have a clean bill of health," Janet stated, startling Sam out of her reverie. Her expression was one of concern. "Sam?" she asked quietly.

 

Sam shook her head. "We'll work it out. SG-1 will work it out." She reached out to touch Janet's forearm as the other woman turned away. "You're a good friend," she added when Janet turned back to face her. "And thank you." 

 

* * * *   
Daniel looked just about dead on his feet, Jack decided as he watched his friend slowly take off his t-shirt in the locker room. He tried to be as unobtrusive as possible as he sat on the bench while Daniel made his slow progress towards the shower. Teal'c stood near the door, a silent guardian to protect his friend's privacy.

 

Jack rubbed a hand over his face. Flashbacks were nothing new to him; he didn't know how much experience Daniel had with them.

 

Daniel had answered Warner's questions in the infirmary with customary politeness-a way of getting people off his track, Jack was certain. Their trip to the locker room had been silent and Jack was sure that if Daniel had been able to give him the slip he would have. Carter had kept out of their sight, only the soft murmur of a conversation reaching their ears as they walked past the curtained off bed. Daniel had paused, looking at the curtain as if he could see through it and then pulled his arms close to his sides in a self hug and walked away with slumped shoulders.

 

The sound of water running brought Jack back abruptly to the here and now. And the here and now meant that when Daniel stepped back into the locker room proper they were going to need to talk. Talk, as in sharing—stuff that Jack really hated doing. Jack glanced at Teal'c who regarded him unblinking from his post by the door. Guess he wasn't getting any help from that quarter.

* * * *

Okay, this was getting ridiculous. Jack looked at his watch. The water was still running and Daniel had never in the time since he'd come back to Earth taken a shower longer than ten minutes. They were fast approaching thirty. 

 

He stood up and noticed Teal'c moving from his position by the door. Jack said nothing, only pointed to the shower room. Teal'c nodded, taking a new post by the   
lockers. 

'Daniel?" Jack called as he went into the shower area. He waved his hand in front of his face as if it would help clear the steamy air. "You okay in here?"

The water shut off abruptly and Daniel appeared in front of him, hair dripping, skin reddened, and a towel clutched tightly around his hips.

 

"I'm done," Daniel said and walked past him. 

 

Jack followed him back to the lockers. 

 

"Is, um, is something wrong?" Daniel's gaze went between Teal'c and Jack befoe his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What are you doing here?" 

 

"Showers." Jack shrugged. 

 

Daniel grunted as he grabbed clothes from his locker. "I can't help but notice I'm the only one who actually took a shower." He scowled at Jack.

 

"Yeah, well, how was the water? They get that temperature control on it?" Jack asked. 

 

Daniel looked away from him and nearly fell as he attempted to pull on a pair of khakis without losing the towel. 

 

"Oh for cryin' out loud," Jack spit out. He pivoted. "Teal'c, turn around. Give a man some privacy."

 

He heard the snick of a zipper a few moments later and turned to see Daniel holding a plaid shirt in one hand and not making any attempt to put it on.

 

"Daniel?" 

 

"I, uh, I..." Daniel's voice trailed off. He swayed slightly and Teal'c had one hand around Daniel's bicep and lowered him to the bench before Jack could even move. The shirt fell to the floor, unheeded.

* * * *

Daniel Jackson did not look well. Teal'c looked at O'Neill and then back at his young teammate. His face was pale and he shivered despite the warmth of the room.

 

"I hit Sam," he finally said. O'Neill picked up the plaid shirt Daniel had dropped. He held it out to the younger man who ignored the gesture. 

A stack of towels rested on a counter near the door and Teal'c grabbed one. He shook it out and draped it over Daniel Jackson's shoulders.

"Flashback," O'Neill pointed out. "You didn't mean to hit her. You didn't even know it was Carter."

"She'll..."

"She understands," Teal'c replied. The towel did not appear to help the shivering and O'Neill put an arm across the other man's shoulders.

"Teal'c's right. Trust me on this."

"I thought...she was...and then...Hathor...she was touching me and I..." The words came out rushed and blended and horrified. Daniel hunched over on the bench, his arms around his middle, the words spilling like blood from a gaping wound.

 

O'Neill leaned forward, his arm tight around Daniel. He said something so quietly that Teal'c couldn't understand it.

But his young friend shook his head and the words still tumbled forth, by turns quick and then halting. And with each word, with each stumbling confession, Teal'c wished Hathor alive so he could kill her again and again.

He knelt on the floor before his friend and waited.

There came a time when the room fell silent but for the sound of O'Neill rubbing his hand over the towel. And still Teal'c waited. Years of training had taught him the value of patience.

* * * *

 

The shivering slowed down to a shudder now and again, and Daniel relaxed slightly. The weight of Jack's arm across his shoulders was warm and if he let himself Daniel was sure he'd be able to stretch out on the bench and sleep until noon the next day. He raised his head and took a deep breath. It came out louder than he expected, a sigh that took with it the vestiges of Hathor's fingers trailing over his skin, of self-hatred. 

 

"Here ya go," Jack said and pressed a tissue into Daniel's hand.

 

Daniel stared at it a minute, his mind still not totally in the here and now, and then looked at Jack who mimicked wiping his face with the tissue. 

 

Oh, Daniel thought when he touched his cheek and found it wet. He licked his lips and tasted salt. Oh, he thought again, surprised but not really. 

He balled the tissue up in his hand and took another deep breath, the tightness in his chest easing more and more.

 

Someone was in front of him, kneeling on the cold concrete. "Teal'c?" 

 

"Yes, DanielJackson." 

 

"Is something...I mean you're..." he settled for waggling his fingers in a vague gesture.

 

"I am well, DanielJackson. However, it is necessary for me to ask your forgiveness for my dereliction of duty."

Jack shifted on the bench when Daniel looked away from Teal'c and to him for an answer. Jack gave a minute shrug.

"Dereliction of duty," Daniel parroted back, enunciating each word.

"I failed in my duty to protect you from Hathor. I failed further when I did not respond to your distress." Teal'c bowed his head and Daniel sat, stunned.

He didn't say anything. Not for lack of wanting to respond. No, his mind was filled with racing thoughts, none of which could he seem to pull together enough to make a coherent response. Jack made a small noise, as if he was going to say something and then changed his mind. 

Daniel tapped his fingers on one leg and shivered.

 

"Crap," Jack said, and handed him a shirt. 

 

"Thanks," Daniel said and turned his attention to the man kneeling in front of him. "Teal'c."

When Teal'c looked up, Daniel continued, "It wasn't your fault I was...that Hathor..look, it wasn't your fault, okay?"

Teal'c regarded him unblinking. Okay so that didn't go so well.

"I forgive you," Daniel said and reached out his hand. "Thank you."

"C'mon," Jack said quietly. "Get the shirt on. Fraiser won't like it if you catch pneumonia in the locker room." The tone was grumbling, but Daniel caught the spark of mischief in Jack's eyes.

He slid his arms through the sleeves and began to do up the buttons. He twisted on the bench when there was a knock at the door, lsoing his balance and nearly neding up on his ass on the floor.

"Steady there." Jack said, again in that calm, quiet voice Daniel had heard while he poured out his soul earlier.

 

He let Jack brace him while he finished buttoning the shirt. His hands were shaking, much to his embarrassment, but he kept with his task.

 

"Carter," Jack acknowledged beside him. 

 

"Sir, Daniel." Carter hovered anxiously. 

 

Daniel looked at her as she stood against the lockers. There was a faint smudge of bruising across her cheek, and her lip was puffy. No wonder she wouldn't get close to him—he'd done that. Hurt a friend and teammate.

 

"Sam." He got up, not saying a word when Jack put a hand under his elbow and steadied him. Daniel reached out towards her, his hand surprisingly steady. She blinked rapidly and turned her head a mere fraction away. Daniel let his hand drop.

 

"I'm so sorry, Sam," he apologized, finding it hard to speak around the lump lodged in his throat.

 

"You didn't know," Sam replied. She reached out and took his hand between hers. He   
allowed the touch. Her hands were nothing like Hathor's, her nails short, her skin warm, and her palm callused. Daniel looked down at their intertwined hands and smiled. "It's going to be okay, Daniel," she said and he believed her. 

 

"We're a team," Jack added and squeezed Daniel's shoulder. "You're gonna get through this." 

"We will be by your side," Teal'c solemnly promised.

He looked at all of them. At his teammates—no, so much more than that: his friends—and he knew he was no longer alone. With Jack, Teal'c, and Sam by his side, he could face anything.

 

"So," Jack said after what felt like a long silence, "Whaddya say we get some grub?"

 

"Sir?" 

 

"There's a new steakhouse opened up, O'Malley's. Pool, darts, everything." 

 

"Meaning they have a bar too?" Daniel asked, relaxing enough to venture a joke. 

 

Jack tapped the back of his head and Daniel ducked. 

 

"What about Teal'c? If we go off-base..." Daniel left the sentence unfinished. 

 

"I've got an extra wool cap." Jack shrugged. "He pulls it down low. No big deal." 

 

"I do not know if..." Teal'c began. 

 

"Uht. Commanding officer here," Jack pointed out. "If you don't take a chance, you won't ever get off this base." 

 

"So we go to General Hammond and ask?" Daniel asked as they left the locker room together. 

 

"Got it in one," Jack said. 

 

"And if he says no, we eat here," Daniel replied for him. "We're a team after all." 

 

He knew the nightmares wouldn't go away overnight. He knew there were still issues to work out, but as Jack had just reminded them, without chance, without risk, there was no movement forward, no leaving port. 

There was too much of the universe out there waiting, and Sha're and Skaara. And Daniel didn't plan on being left behind. He walked with his team, his friends, down the corridor. He didn't know where they'd wind up, but wherever it was, they'd be together.


End file.
